It Hits Home For Turcotte

Inside the Whalers

They used to cry when they found out they were traded to the Whalers. Now they're crying when they find out they're leaving.

And while this may be of no consolation to Darren Turcotte this morning, it does speak volumes about the men who play for this allegedly doomed franchise.

After general manager Jim Rutherford told Turcotte he had been traded to the Winnipeg Jets for Nelson Emerson, Turk was spotted on the P3 level of the Civic Center garage.

He looked as if someone just shot his dog. His head was down. His shoulders were slumped. The same feet that burst with terrific skating acceleration on the ice were dragging on the cement like a ball and chain. His sky-blue eyes were bloodshot red.

He waved off a gaggle of reporters once, twice, three times. Finally, he relented. Turcotte is not your typical hockey player who will easily embrace a local reporter unless the writercarves him up like an Easter ham. Turk is no jerk, but he doesn't throw the welcome mat in front of his locker the way Sean Burke, Brad McCrimmon, Kelly Chase or Brendan Shanahan do.

He can be distant at times.

But not this time.

``I'm really upset,'' Turcotte said. ``I see this team where it was two seasons ago and I see where it is now . . . I just thought we were opening some eyes. I've never seen a group of guys so close.

``This happened to me with the Rangers, too. We went through the whole rebuilding process and then when we were on the verge of becoming a contender, I went somewhere else.''

Turcotte went to Hartford. The Rangers went to their first Stanley Cup parade in 54 years. Turcotte didn't do cartwheels coming to the Whalers, but he sure didn't leave laughing. Guys like Rob Brown, Zarley Zalapski and John Cullen treated Hartford like Siberia in the early 1990s.

``Hartford, Winnipeg and Quebec -- that's three WHA teams,'' Bettman said. ``If we're going through expansion today, they would probably not be on any expansion list and are not major league markets. Hartford is in doubt . . .''

You're wrong, Gary. Hartford is an NHL team. And while Hartford may not prove to be a major league market in the hockey sense, the state is a big-time sports market. Just ask UConn coach Jim Calhoun.

But what is really bothersome is the timing, Gary. It's the start of the season and you're already exacerbating the problem. The Rangers are in town for the opener. It'll be a sellout. The joint will be jumping. The Whalers have a shot at the division title. Give 'em a chance before you move them to Phoenix.

``This is up there among the happiest days of my career,'' said Emerson, 28. ``The team is 99 percent sure it's leaving Winnipeg [for Minnesota next season]. It's difficult.''

``I feel for Darren,'' Rutherford said. ``I know he is set back by this. I've been uprooted myself in my life. But it's a sign of the time Hartford is not all bad.''

Whalers fans won't be crazy about this trade. The Whalers had a half-dozen memorable goals last season and Turk had three of them. His OT goal against Montreal was the high point of the season.

Turcotte looks in the mirror and he sees Emerson. Emerson is six months older and, at $918,000 in the final year of his contract, makes $18,000 more. Both are swift. Both are scorers.

``In New York, I was traded 400 times before it happened,'' Turcotte said. ``I heard all about potential moves with Winnipeg [including Emerson], but my name never came up. When Paul Holmgren pulled me aside and said Jimmy wanted to talk to me, I knew it wasn't about the weather.

``If I was part of the package for a 50-goal scorer or a right-handed [defenseman], it would be a little easier. But Nelson and I are so similar. I just don't understand.''

``It could be as simple as one being a left- handed and one being a right-handed shot,'' Shanahan said. ``I'm not interested in saying who won the trade.''

The Whalers are convinced Turcotte is a center and Emerson is a right wing and they want a right wing. They need a right-hand shot from the point on the power play. Emerson fills the bill.

If this deal works out and Emerson plays well on a line with Shanahan and Jimmy Carson, it will be remembered as the great Compumise. Owner Pete Karmanos is said to really want Carson, an old Compuware kid from Detroit, to click with Shanahan. Shanahan has to be happy his big buddy Emerson will start out on his line.

After a training camp devoid of controversy, will dumping Turcotte and putting Jeff Reese ill at ease with the arrival of goalie Jason Muzzatti have the locker room in a bit of a tizzy? We brought up that possibility when captain Pat Verbeek was dealt in March and there was no problem. On the eve of the opener, the timing does seem questionable.

``Timing?'' Turcotte said with disgust. ``I just bought a house 15 days ago. That's the kiss of death.''